Judge Paula Feroleto ruled in our favor on Wednesday and issued us a protective order!

In August, Tonawanda Coke demanded that we turn over thousands of pages worth of documents to the company. In order to comply we would have had to turn over every record ever generated, every phone call log, every e-mail and all databases. TCC also demanded publicly available government data, press clippings, social media posts, scientific studies, internal memos, private health information about it’s membership, and all documents about: “any entities operating in a twenty-five (25) mile radius of Tonawanda Coke Corporation.”

We had made several requests for the company to narrow the scope of the subpoena. The company refused and dragged us into court.

Wednesday, Judge Feroleto ruled that the subpoena was overbroad and granted us a protective order from TCC.

Check out the coverage in The Buffalo News and Tonawanda News.

Our attorneys were amazing! A huge thank you goes out to Jim Duggan and Neil Pawlowski who fought for us bravely!

Thanks goes out to all of our members for their support during this time. Your membership support made certain that our voices will continue to be heard, and assured that we will not back down when our health is on the line.

Over the last year, The Clean Air Coalition of WNY has built a partnership with 12 organizations and hundreds of residents to conduct community based research on the environmental health issues in Tonawanda NY.

This process, funded through the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) CARE Program, included activities such as multiple focus groups, citizen led air testing, a photography project and a door to door canvass. On Wednesday, February 20th 2013 The Coalition will coordinate a community wide risk ranking event where all of the information collected over the past year will be presented and the community will vote on the 5 top hazards of most concern. Our ‘Tonawanda Toxic Top 5’ document will be released in March.

2012 has been a busy year. Though our CARE Program alone we have:

• Held 8 workshops with over 100 attendees, including workshops on the Toxic Release Inventory, Freedom of Information Act, Zoning and Land Use, and Pollution Prevention.
• Air tested in 3 community identified locations
• Met one on one with 37 Tonawanda residents
• Partnered with 12 Tonawanda Organizations
• Coordinated PhotoVoice; a participatory photography method for resident’s to capture the social and environmental determinants of health
• Held 3 focus group sessions to receive feedback on community health concerns
• Went door to door to 1,000 residents homes
• Read  and reported on hundreds of DEC and EPA documents on Tonawanda industrial releases and on-site worker injuries

The work of our members and staff all leads up to one main event: on February 20^th the public is invited to cast their vote for Tonawanda Toxic Top 5. Our Toxic Top 5 will set our agenda on Tonawanda health priorities. This is a vote that will count.

Be on the Top 5 Organizing Committee! Our first meeting is on January 3^rd at 6pm at the Sheridan Parkside Community Center. Call Rebecca at 852-3813 for more information.

Internship Overview

The Clean Air Coalition of Western New York is a grassroots environmental health and justice organization based in Buffalo, New York. It works to build power by developing grassroots leaders who run and win campaigns that advance environmental justice and public health in the region.  The Clean Air Coalition envisions a world where our environment promotes health and equity and where communities are actively engaged in decisions that impact their lives. The Coalition works in Tonawanda to reduce emissions from industrial polluters, on the lower west side of Buffalo to reduce community exposure to diesel exhaust and in several other neighborhoods in Erie County to phase out toxic chemical storage and reduce exposure to school bus exhaust in residential neighborhoods.

We seek interns to help with our organizing, community-based research, and leadership development. All internships include some operations and development work. The Clean Air Coalition’s internships are ideal for highly motivated individuals looking to deepen and practice their skills engaging community leaders in solving environmental health and justice organizations.

Our interns work out of our Buffalo office. The Winter/Spring placements starting in January and end in May summer interns begin in June and end in August and the fall interns begin in September and end in December (exact dates are flexible).

The Coalition accepts two interns per semester. Internship goals are set between the intern and their supervisor based on the needs of the organization and the interests of the intern.   Past intern projects include producing a report on toxic releases and worker exposures in Tonawanda, developing educational materials on how Erie County government passes laws, publishing a report on Tier 2 compliance in Erie County, making recommendations to improve the Coalition’s brand and identifying national foundations interested in supporting the Coalition’s work.

2013 internship needs:

The Coalition if currently seeking interns to work on projects in the following areas:

• Political Education and Research  Projects will include creating popular education documents on local municipalities that govern our organizing areas, tracking decision makers through www.littlesis.org and researching and developing popular education materials on the City of Buffalo’s budget.
• Land Use, Zoning and Mapping Projects will include completing research on zoning in the town of Tonawanda, historical research on the industrial corridor in Tonawanda, Buffalo’s east and west side, and supporting the Gearing Up for Action program by researching the history of businesses and land-use decisions on Buffalo’s west side.
• Toxics and environmental regulations Projects will include research on Huntley, the coal burning power plant in Tonawanda and research on Special Environmental Projects.
• Spanish Language. This intern will support the Coalition’s transition to bi-lingualism. He or she will work closely with the Executive Director and west side organizer to translate educational and fundraising materials, translate at membership meetings and drive member turn out through turnout calls and mailings.
• Development. This intern will work closely with the Executive Director and Board Chair. Projects will include doing research on major donor prospects and foundations, produce support for the board retreat, annual dinner and and several targeted direct mail appeals.

The ideal candidates will have:

• Ability to work independently
• strong interest in social justice, participatory democracy, environmental justice or non-profit management
• strong communication, writing, and organizational skills
• experience or interest working with non-profit organizations
• strong skills working with Powerpoint, Word, GoogleDocs, Mailchimp, salesforce
• Research experience, in or out of the classroom, on issues related to public policy, participatory democracy, public health, urban planning, environmental justice, spanish language, or development

We strongly encourage applications from people of color, women, and LGBTQ individuals. The internship is unpaid, though it may lead to paid work depending on the intern’s performance and available resources. For more information, visit our website at www.cacwny.org

To apply, send a letter of interest, resume, and work sample (e.g. a brochure, flyer, powerpoint presentation, report, info sheet) to erin@cacwny.org. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

I’ll never forget the graduation night of the Lois Gibbs Fellows this year. Like many of our events, our staff and members brought along their families to celebrate their hard work and share a delicious meal. Lois brought down the house, reminding us that working people are how change always happens in this country and reaffirming our commitment to building power and confronting the already-powerful. I’ll never forget the beautiful smiles on our Fellows faces as they received their graduation certificate. As our organizers shared stories about the growth in each of our fellows I felt extremely blessed to be part of a community of such strong and hard-working people. I can’t wait to see the changes each one of them will make in the years to come! Erin Heaney

My favorite moment of 2012 was when over 100 of our members, residents and organizational partners marched to Front Park by the Peace Bridge. We had signs, sang songs, and chanted to tell Governor Cuomo that the community needs an air monitor to measure the diesel exhaust from the 4,000 trucks that run past their homes daily.  At the end one of our members grabbed all the used asthma pumps that we had collected and threw them in a coffin to demonstrate the amount of illness in the community. Everyone started singing. A few months later an air monitor was installed at the base of the bridge. This year demonstrated that when people organize we have the power to make our neighborhoods better places to live. I can’t wait to continue to work with our coalition for a healthy west side in 2013.  Natasha Soto

My favorite moment of 2012 was the morning I found out that Amigone Crematory was issued the Assurance of Discontinuance by the Attorney General. I was reminded that organizing works.  I thought about what the people I am working with have been putting up with over the past 20 years.; the inability to sleep because the smells from the crematory were so bad, the noise, the inability to have their grandchildren over because they were afraid of what types of chemicals were in the air. I met one woman who would vomit because the smells were so bad in her house. When I got the call that the AOD had been issued, and the Amigones had to suspend their operation, I could not wait to call everyone and tell them the news.  I know the fight is not over, but I have been honored to work along-side folks on Werkley, Parker, Springfield, Fries, Maplegrove & Melody Ln this past year and I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday. Rebecca Newberry

Do you live close to a bus lot?

Do you have trucks that run their engines and speed in your neighborhood?

Are you worried about your kids playing close to a busy intersection or train tracks?

Do you kids and neighbors have asthma?

Upset about all the potholes in your neighborhood?

Join us for Gearing Up for Action!

Folks who sign up will:

• Meet others from across the city who are struggling with similar problems
• Identify the impacts of living in a neighborhood with trucks, trains and buses
• Identify the people who make decisions about transportation hubs
• Identify solutions and plan for ACTION!

The training is once a month from January till June from 5:30-7:30. The training dates are:

January 15th

February 19th

March 19th

April 16th

May 21st

June 18th

Graduation!

WHERE: Primeria Igelsia Unida Metodista 62 Virginia Street, Buffalo Children are welcome and snacks will be provided

Interested in Joining? Download an application or contact Natasha at 852-3813 or natasha@cacwny.org

We are on the front page of the Buffalo News today because Tonawanda Coke is trying to bully us. But we will not be intimidated.

We recently received a subpoena demanding we turn over seven years’ worth of documents. They want every email and letter we’ve ever sent to anyone in the government, our air monitoring results, our educational materials, our documents on every other company we’ve ever spoken about in Erie and Niagara County, our Facebook posts, twitter messages and much, much more.

We refused to turn over these documents. And now the company is taking us to court and will try to force us to turn them over. This is no doubt an attempt by Tonawanda Coke to squash the only people who ever held them accountable.

Victory at Tonawanda Coke

We began as just a few people sitting around a kitchen table in Tonawanda. We knocked on doors, tested the air, met with elected officials and rallied at the gates of the plant. We held the government’s feet to the fire and demanded they hold Tonawanda Coke accountable.  And it worked. Tonawanda Coke was raided, a leader at the plant was indicted in federal court, the company signed a consent order and benzene levels in the town have dropped by 86%.

We Must Continue the Fight!

The Clean Air Coalition is an important institution in our community that holds polluters accountable and makes Tonawanda a healthier place to live, work and play. We stand with ordinary residents who are sick of cleaning the soot off their windowsills, who close their windows from noxious odors, who worry about their kids’ exposure to toxic chemicals and who don’t want to give their tax dollars to companies that are poisoning workers and the community.

We are winning. We are winning despite the fact that Tonawanda Coke has deep pockets and the best attorneys’ money can buy.  We need your help to ensure that the Clean Air Coalition can continue its important work. We’ve had your back. Now we need you to get ours.

WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW

We are powered by people! Support us today to ensure that peoples voices will always be heard!

Make your contribution of $20, $50, $100, or $200 here.

We are proud to to announce our third year of the Lois Gibbs Fellowship, a selective, 9-month program that provides a diverse set of emerging citizen leaders with the tools and training to build sustained political will to improve the environment and health in Western New York neighborhoods.

Over the course of one year, the Lois Gibbs Fellowship provides rich training opportunities in the following areas:

• Developing effective messages and media outreach
• Strategic campaign planning and power mapping
• How to build your base
• Holding elected officials accountable
• Grassroots lobbying
• New media
• Corporate and Government research

The program is named in honor of Lois Gibbs, a grassroots environmental justice advocate from Western New York. She is best known for her successful campaign to relocate families living on top of a toxic waste dump in Niagara Falls. Lois Gibbs is emblematic of the program’s philosophy: ordinary individuals can make an extraordinary difference when they organize.

Expect a new twist on this year’s fellowship. We’ve extended our program, which means more trainings and resources for social and environmental justice leaders! We are also excited to welcome back past graduates of the program, to share their experiences and offer expertise from their on the ground campaigns.

To download an application click on this link: Lois Gibbs 2013 Fellowship Application

Or call us at 852-3813 to have us mail you an application.

Applications are due January 15th. – DEADLINE EXTENDED UNTIL JANUARY 30th!

Questions? Visit our site, or call Rebecca at 852-3813.

Our member Monday this month has been canceled. Thanks to all of our members who have been generously donating their time to label envelopes, fold newsletters, make turn out callsand help with all the other important work! We will see you the last Monday in November!

On November 7th at 2pm at the Erie County Legislative Chambers, 4th Floor of Old County Hall, 92 Franklin St. Buffalo NY.

The Amigone Funeral Home and Crematory is currently located at 2600 Sheridan Dr. in Tonawanda.

Since the crematory began operation 20 years ago, residents living near the site filed numerous complaints to the Town and Attorney General about heavy smoke, odors, noise coming from the crematory – all which decreased their quality of life.

Due to these continuous complaints from residents regarding their quality of life, the Attorney General’s office issued an Interim Assurance of Discontinuance (AOD #12-072) to the facility on July 25^th of this year, which ordered a 6 month shut down, and encouraged the relocation of the facility to a suitable site.

The Amigone family has petitioned Erie County to move the crematory to 55 Cooper Ave. directly behind families on Two Mile Creek Rd.

Crematories do not belong in neighborhoods. Join us on Nov. 7th to tell the Erie County Legislature to stand up for the quality of life for regular working families.

Call your Erie County  representative  to SOLVE the PROBLEM NOT MOVE the PROBLEM, and relocate Amigone crematory away from homes and families. Find out who your representative is, and their phone number here.

¡? Sabias que?!

El Departamento de Conservación Ambiental de Nueva York esta instilando monitores de aire para probar la calidad del aire en el West Side por el Peace Bridge.

El Departamento de Conservación Ambiental viene a nuestra próxima reunión para dar nos una presentación sobre como trabajar los monitores, que van a medir, y como van a informar la comunidad sobre las resultas. La reunión es el miércoles, 24 de octubre a las 6pm en el sótano de la librería Niagara.

Si tienes preguntas, llame a Natasha al 716-852-3813. 

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Did you hear?!

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is installing 2 Air Monitors on Buffalo’s West Side in order to measure the neighborhood’s air quality impacted by the Peace Bridge.

After 6 months of hard work, and one rally involving two neighborhoods, the DEC announced that it will place two air monitors on Buffalo’s West Side.

Join us on Wednesday, October 24^th at 6pm in the basement of the Niagara Branch Library for a presentation from the DEC on how the air monitors will work, what they will measure, and how the information will be made available to the public.

!Y hablamos espanol!